Anna's wish came true! She got to go inside the temple! And she got to see the temple every morning, afternoon, and evening. She also got to blow bubbles, go for walks, chase dragonflies, and shoot laser guns with this beautiful temple in the background.
Grammer Valerie & Papa Dennis' new home is in amazing proximity to the new Twin Falls temple. Every evening we sat on the back patio and enjoyed this view. For this pic I'm literally sitting in a patio chair - have not moved an inch.
Now, if I get up and take a few steps into the grass . . . . .
You'd think that maybe they planned it this way. Hmmm.
Monday evening we had a family home evening on temples and for the activity we each got to build a temple with sugar cubes and craft glue. How cool!
Valerie even printed out little Angel Moroni's to glue to the top. Or, as Payton would say: "Ancient of Moroni."
Scott's temple was definitely the most detailed -- the trusses were built off-site. My temple was kinda puny. Conner's was the tallest and soon became the leaning tower. Anna's temple was, well, in ruins. And Payton's fit right in the middle.
We chose Tuesday afternoon as the time we would go through the temple open house. {It began on July 11th and will run until August 16th. Then it will be dedicated on August 24th by President Monson}. The tour begins in the brand new stake center next door with a short video and then our guide took us into the temple for a simple tour. We saw the baptistry (such beautiful materials), instruction rooms (an amazing mural painted on the wall), a giant sealing room (seats 65 with room to spare), the celestial room (gorgeous chandelier), the womens' locker room, the bride's room (so beautiful & dainty), and all the hallways and foyers in between. At the beginning of the tour we were given pamphlets about the temple and it included pictures of each of these rooms. It was so cute to watch all 3 kids studying their pamphlets as we went along, matching the pictures with the room we were currently in, and checking them off (in their minds) as we go. They looked like a bunch of little tourists!
Payton said his favorite part of the temple was the chandelier. And Conner can't decide what his favorite part was. Anna, who has been talking about the temple forever, appeared mostly unphased by the experience. She is 2.
On the drive home yesterday Payton & Anna were looking at their pamphlets again. This time Payton was explaining the pictures to Anna. It was very cute to listen to, even though many of Payton's facts were off. He is 5.
Payton: This is where members of the church sit. They sit and look at the chandelier. This is where people get baptized for the dead. You get baptized when you're 8, 19, and 80.
Anna: No, I don't get baptized. (being her usual defiant self. She always has to state the opposite of what you would like her to say, or what is right . . . . even if she really wants & believes things your way. She just has to be difficult.)
Payton: Yes, Jesus will dunk you under the water.
We'll be sure to correct him on a few points. :)
The back and front of the temple on our tour day.
Today in sacrament meeting Anna drew the cutest picture - her first real picture other than scribbles. It showed two people and some water and she explained to Scott that it was someone being baptized. I wish I had snatched it from her notebook right then, because she went on to scribble all over it. Darn. So maybe she did retain something from this temple-going experience. You can only hope, right?
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For the rest of our visit we
- visited 3 or 4 parks
- Scott got in 2 1/2 rounds of golf
- Conner even got to play 9 holes (with a score of 101)
- the kids played many, many games with Grammer
- Randy came up for a short visit
- I visited the mega-scrapbook store & Valerie's favorite fabric store (got lots of fabric for several projects),
- a fishing & tubing trip to Warm Springs. This time we actually sat in the "warm springs" -- the kids loved it. We made sure to stop for giant ice cream cones at the Snack Shack in Shoshone on our way home. A picture collage is below.
- the boys went to a planetarium show with Grammer
- Scott and I went on a date: a movie & Coldstone
- ate at all the favorite places: Maxie's, Papa Kelsey's, 9 Beans
- Scott read 4 Star Wars books, and I read Twilight
- we walked through a house in the neighborhood currently under construction: 8,000 square feet. Yikes!
- sat on the back patio and marveled at the amazing view.
